Keeping up with the Cat Talk

The school newspaper is one of Millbrook’s oldest traditions. For decades, Millbrook High School students have reported on school events and world happenings, in many of the same ways as they do today. Countless homecomings, school plays, and global events are immortalized within the pages of our newspapers. Editors, layout styles, and names have varied throughout the years, but that much has remained constant. Although currently dubbed The Cat Talk, our newspaper has only had this title since the 1970’s. In the 1940’s The Cat Talk was called The Hi-Notes. In the 50’s, it was referred to as The Laurelette, most likely an allusion to the Laurel, the name of our yearbook. The last name the newspaper had before The Cat Talk was The Blue Notes in the 1960’s.

Mrs. Putnam has served as advisor to the newspaper staff since 1999. An English teacher with no formal journalistic experience, Mrs. Putnam stepped up to provide invaluable teaching and support to the newspaper staff in the over fifteen years she has served as advisor. She said, “I am so proud of our newspaper and the accomplishments of both my current and past staff reporters. Last year’s Editor-in-Chief, Kiley Burns, just recently published her first article in The Daily Tarheel, UNC-CH’s newspaper. I absolutely love to see my students continue what they learn with me in college and in their careers.” It is under her leadership that The Cat Talk developed some of its most beloved and recognized traits. These include various regular features, articles that are present in every issue such as Student Spotlight or Cats on the Prowl. One significant contribution The Cat Talk has made to the school was the introduction of Wiley the Wildcat in 2002. Wiley originated from a cartoon in the paper and since has been adopted as the school’s mascot.

Millbrook’s student newspaper definitely has a rich past, but also an exciting future. In recent years, a lot has changed within the realm of journalism and news reporting. Print journalism has seen a decline as digital media grows in popularity, and it is a common saying that print journalism is dying. This is something that we at The Cat Talk staff have been very cognizant of, and instead of folding under it, have chosen to embrace it. We are excited to announce that today is the launch of our website, www.mhscattalk.com! We will be posting the latest in Millbrook news periodically on this new site, so be sure to check it frequently. Veteran staff member Jessica Urbanski commented, “The start of our website is a new change, but given how often everyone uses technology in today’s era, I’m positive we’ll have great results.” For those of our readers who are fond of our print paper, we will be publishing two additional print editions this school year: one in February and one in May. Also follow our twitter, @MHSNewspaper_ and feel free to contact us with any suggestions you might have. We are looking forward to embarking on this new chapter with the Millbrook Community behind us.